POLICE AND drug agents searched the sprawling Las Vegas home and medical office of Michael Jackson’s personal doctor today, seeking documents as part of a manslaughter investigation into the singer’s death.
Los Angeles police and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents entered Dr Conrad Murray’s home in a gated community while others across town searched his medical offices, Global Cardiovascular Associates.
Michael Flanagan, assistant special agent in charge of the Las Vegas DEA office, said the warrants were sealed and he could not say what documents the investigators were seeking.
He said he expected the search would last five hours.
It was the second time in less than a week that investigators targeted Dr Murray’s property. Last week in Houston, they searched his clinic and storage.
Court records show they were seeking evidence of whether the doctor committed manslaughter.
With toxicology reports pending, investigators are working under the theory that Dr Murray gave Jackson the powerful anaesthetic propofol to help him go to sleep, and the drug caused his heart to stop, a law enforcement official told reporters.
Dr Murray told investigators he administered propofol some time in the early morning of June 25th, the day Jackson died, according to the official.
The official said Dr Murray left the bedroom where Jackson was sedated and returned later to find the star unresponsive.
Police have said Dr Murray is co-operating and have not labelled him a suspect.
The doctor was at his Las Vegas home when investigators arrived. Outside, a few onlookers from a nearby golf course and neighbouring homes watched as they swarmed the home.
Staff members at Dr Murray’s medical office were co-operative, the official said.
Dr Murray’s lawyer in Houston, Edward Chernoff, has said the doctor “didn’t prescribe or administer anything that should have killed Michael Jackson”.
Last night, his office posted a statement online that said “things tend to shake out when all the facts are made known, and I’m sure that will happen here as well”.
Jackson is believed to have been using propofol for about two years and investigators are trying to determine how many other doctors administered it.
Dr Murray told them he had given Jackson the drug several times before, the official said.
Jackson relied on the drug like an alarm clock, the official said, explaining a doctor would administer it when Jackson went to sleep then stop the IV drip when the singer wanted to wake up.
Dr Murray (51) became Jackson’s personal physician in May and was to accompany him to London for a series of concerts starting in July.
He was staying with Jackson in the Los Angeles mansion and, according to Mr Chernoff, “happened to find” the star unconscious in the bedroom on the morning of June 25th and tried to revive him. – (AP)